RM OF BATTLE RIVER — Saskatchewan RCMP have charged a man after $9.1 million illicit cigarettes were seized following a vehicle search in the RM of Battle River.
On Jan. 20 at approximately 12:40 a.m., Saskatchewan Highway Patrol officers with the Provincial Protective Services Branch stopped a truck and trailer on Highway 16 in the RM of Battle River. They found a large amount of illicit tobacco in the trailer and arrested the adult male occupant of the truck.
Battlefords RCMP, along with Saskatchewan RCMP’s Yorkton Saskatchewan Trafficking Response Team (STRT), were engaged to continue the investigation. During a search of the truck and trailer, officers observed 23 pallets of unstamped tobacco containing approximately $9.1 million illicit cigarettes. The items were seized by officers, and the man was taken into RCMP custody.
The investigation determined the driver was on court-ordered release conditions, including not being outside of Ontario, in relation to tobacco-related charges laid in Ontario.
As a result of further investigation, a 41-year-old man, from Brampton, Ont., is charged with:
- one count, sell, offer for sale, transport, deliver, distribute, or have in his possession for the purpose of sale a tobacco product, or a raw leaf tobacco that is unstamped;
- one count, possession of unstamped tobacco;
- one count, possess, store, transport or sell tobacco that is not marked in a prescribed manner; and
- one count, failure to comply with an undertaking condition.
The accused appeared in North Battleford Provincial Court on Jan. 21.
